Chris Gmyr

You bought a house, packed up all of your belongings, and hired a moving company. Now, you are standing in your new home, the movers are pulling out of the driveway, and you feel…

Overwhelmed. Everything you own is in a box, scattered around the house. Or, more likely, stacked in what will, someday, be your living room. So, where do you start?

First things first—you will need a place to sleep tonight, and so will your family. Set up the beds first. Ideally, you have all of the bed linens in one box, and it’s labeled and easy to find. Once the beds are set up, unpack all of your toiletries.

At this point, concentrate on getting boxes to the right rooms. Don’t start unpacking until all of the boxes have a home, and then tackle one room at a time. If you have wrapped your dishes in newspapers or something similar, they will need to be washed. Pop the first load into the dishwasher while you start on the bedrooms. Put dressers and other furniture back together, and start putting things away, one box at a time. Break down and stack empty boxes in an out of the way area when you’re done with them.

As the dishes finish up, start putting them into the cupboards. Your perishable foods should already be taken care of, but now you should start on the rest of it. It might take a little while to figure out how you want to organize your new kitchen. Remember that you can always change things around later; right now, you just need to get everything out of the boxes and in some sort of order in the cupboards. Unpack and put away appliances and anything else that belongs in the kitchen while you are at it.

Put together the rest of your furniture. Don’t worry too much about where it is going right now. Just make sure it is in the right room. Next, start setting up offices, entertainment centers, and other electronic areas. Before you begin setting them up, though, look for your outlets. There is nothing worse than getting everything all set, only to realize that the cord is just a little bit to short to reach a power source.

Start unpacking each room. Put books on shelves, stack toys into toy chests. This is the longest, and most frustrating part of the unpacking process. It probably seems like it will never end! It’s okay to take breaks, and to let this task stretch out over several days. Just remember to keep boxes waiting to be packed set out of the way, and to take care of the empty boxes as you clear them out.

Seasonal or seldom-used items can go into storage, without being unpacked. Carefully label each box before storing it, and then pack it away in the attic, basement, garage, closet, or where ever else you are using for storage.

Unpacking takes a while, a long while. Just remember to do it in small chunks and take breaks. Don’t think you need to have everything done within a day or two. Unpack what you need, and then unpack as you can after that, even if it is only a box or two a day.